Source Documentation Standards

All due diligence findings must be traceable to their sources. This enables audit trails, follow-up verification, and legal defensibility.

Source Quality Tiers

Tier 1: Primary Sources (Highest Credibility)

• •SEC filings (10-K, 10-Q, S-1)
• •Court documents and legal filings
• •Government databases (USPTO, state registrations)
• •Company's own audited financials
• •Direct customer/reference interviews

Tier 2: Secondary Sources (High Credibility)

• •Established data providers (Crunchbase, PitchBook, CB Insights)
• •Major news outlets (WSJ, Bloomberg, TechCrunch)
• •Industry analyst reports (Gartner, Forrester)
• •LinkedIn profiles (for employment verification)
• •Academic research and papers

Tier 3: Tertiary Sources (Use with Caution)

• •Social media posts
• •Blog articles
• •Glassdoor reviews
• •Wikipedia (only as starting point)
• •Forum discussions

Citation Format

Every fact must include a source citation:

{
  "source": {
    "name": "Full source name",
    "type": "SEC_FILING | NEWS | DATA_PROVIDER | INTERVIEW | GOVERNMENT | OTHER",
    "url": "https://... (if available)",
    "access_date": "2024-01-15",
    "publication_date": "2024-01-10",
    "tier": 1,
    "excerpt": "Relevant quote or data point"
  }
}

Best Practices

DO:

• •Capture URLs at time of access (pages change/disappear)
• •Note the access date for all web sources
• •Quote relevant passages, don't just link
• •Use multiple sources for critical claims
• •Prefer recent sources over older ones

DON'T:

• •Cite a source you haven't actually reviewed
• •Use company press releases as independent verification
• •Rely on a single source for material claims
• •Cite sources behind paywalls without noting limitation
• •Mix up "stated by company" vs "independently verified"

Source Tracking in Output

Include a sources section in every analysis:

{
  "sources_used": [
    {
      "id": "S1",
      "name": "Crunchbase - Acme Corp Profile",
      "url": "https://crunchbase.com/...",
      "access_date": "2024-01-15",
      "tier": 2,
      "used_for": ["funding_history", "employee_count"]
    }
  ],
  "source_statistics": {
    "tier_1": 3,
    "tier_2": 8,
    "tier_3": 2,
    "total": 13
  }
}

Handling Source Conflicts

When sources disagree:

1. •Note the discrepancy explicitly
2. •Prefer higher-tier sources
3. •Prefer more recent sources
4. •Document both versions with reasoning for which to trust